Three French hens, two turtle doves, and a blog post full of love from me.

Merry Christmas from The Cheesecake Addiction! I hope it was very merry!

Far too much in the way of food happened to fully detail it all, so I’ll hit the highlights.

First, on the 23rd, I filled my first huge truffle order! I sold twenty two bags, large and small, and spent much time over the weekend slaving in the kitchen with CDR hand rolling the truffles to chocolatey perfection.

Then on Christmas Eve, CDR and I woke up crazy early so that I could make cheesecake. And I’m telling you guys, this time, it was PERFECT. No cracks at all! Just delicious. I was mighty proud.

Me, admiring the lack of cracks in my beautiful cake!

Don’t forget the sour cream topping!

While the cheesecake set up in the fridge, CDR and I joined the rest of my cousins for our annual Christmas Eve trip to confession and then to lunch at Navy Pier. Never a dull moment with my Uncle John, let me tell you. Naturally, St. Peter’s was closed until 4pm, so we had to pile back into our cars and go over to St. Mary of the Angels. But not before we discovered Uncle John had the direct line to one of the priest’s, Father Santiago–an envoy from the Vatican. He called ahead to make sure they would be able to accommodate our large group (15 in total, though only 8 confessors). Upon arriving, we were surprised that we were directed to the rectory, and shown into the priests’ private chapel. Father Hillary took confessions, while Father Santiago told us the story of Christmas.

Then burritos at Navy Pier. Then home to help my mom with dinner. Check out the 17 pound rib roast.

This baby was rubbed with dijon, salt, pepper, and mustard seeds and cooked to a luxurious 130 degrees. Yummy.

And then we dug into the cheesecake.

Delicious!

On Christmas afternoon, before driving to Uncle Chris and Aunt Donna’s, we took the left over ribs, and made ourselves a luscious stock.

On Sunday night, after the opera, CDR met me and my grandmother for dinner. We went to The Peasantry, a PHENOMENAL, inspiring restaurant in Lincoln Park, specializing in “elevated street food.”

It was a snowy, bitter night so I was craving a warm and toasty cocktail. My grandmother and I ordered a Hot Toddy and for those of you who don’t know, it’s like alcoholic tea. This was an amazing cocktail, for sure, but not quite as glorious as what CDR had.

Yep. The Sazerac. Find a classic recipe here, but rest assured I’ll be blogging about our own Sazeracs later this week.

But anyway, this was the smoothest drink I’ve ever had. There’s no burn (because of the sugar), and the anise notes are delightfully whimsical (the anise comes from the absinth). An absolutely incredible cocktail and will surely be made over and over in our house.

Look how handsome!

Now, for dinner, I popped my Farm Burger cherry. The ever-popular burger topped with a fried egg. I had always been so afraid to try it–and I’m not really sure why, but there was something about this place that just let me know that it would all be ok, and that I NEEDED to try it.

Well…I’ll be dreaming about that burger FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE. Yeah, it was that good. Cooked to a perfect medium-well, with cheddar and bibb lettuce, and then…and then the egg…

Oh…My…GOD…

Knock, knock, knockin on heaven’s door…

It was THAT good. I even had to compliment the chef. For dessert we had AMAZING apple fritters and pecan pie. I don’t even…I can’t even…

Truly, an inspiring dining experience. So inspiring that I have created a new Weekly Cocktail page–check it out weekly and see whatdrinks CDR and I are mixing up. We’re kicking it off with the Moscow Mule.